A comparison of tau‐p transform methods

Many τ-p transform methods are available to seismic data analysts; selection of the appropriate method should depend on the nature of the source excitation, the intended use of the transformed data, limits imposed by sampling parameters, and computational cost. Using these criteria, we compare five methods on marine multichannel data and similar synthetic profiles. On fully sampled synthetic profiles, methods that handle the three‐dimensional (3-D) nature of the point source provide correct amplitude and phase information even at small slownesses, whereas 2-D and asymptotic approximate methods do not. When data from small ranges are not available, aliasing and truncation distort the amplitude of small slowness traces produced by all methods, but are most severe in the 3-D results. Transformation of data with increased input trace spacing or decreased depth to the reflector results in increased aliasing effects. When the intended use of the transformed data depends on correct arrival times only, and not on...